


In the Heat of the Day

by drakro



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M, Gen, Revenge, Romeo is not vibin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23202130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drakro/pseuds/drakro
Summary: Romeo receives a visit from a few friends. It doesn't change anything.
Relationships: Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague(mentioned)
Kudos: 4





	In the Heat of the Day

“Here comes the furious Tybalt back again!”

Romeo pauses. Tybalt was here. Tybalt was back again. Tybalt was alive. Mercutio was not here. Mercutio would not be back again. Mercutio was dead. His friend stabbed, even while he came between the two. His friend dead, defending his honor. And Tybalt, Tybalt alive, a murderer in the face of offered love.

Mercutio was dead, and he had died hating him. Tybalt was alive, and he lives on, hating him all the while. Was he really so dishonorable, so wretched a person? Perhaps. He had thought it was the right thing to get between them. He had thought it would prevent either party from getting injured. Instead, he may have caused Mercutio’s death.

He hears a laugh from behind him and whips around. His lady love is standing there, smiling at him. She couldn’t possibly know that Mercutio was dead. Would she even care? Her smile turns a bit sad, as if she knows what he’s thinking.

“Oh, what a shame this is!” It’s the friar who calls out. He knows. He has to, but how? He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near here. By all means, both of them should be far, far away from here. From this scene of tragedy and death. Of forgiveness and betrayal.

Juliet stands in front of him, “What’s wrong, my love?” She asks him. And what wasn’t wrong on this day, his wedding day? As long as his friend lay cold on the floor, he is sure there isn’t a thing that will lay untouched by its misery.

Then the impossible happens and Mercutio walks out of the house. “Romeo, oh cursed man, you have made the death of me.” He says it with an easy smile, however, and elbows him as he walks by. “So, a Capulet, never thought you the sort. But no, you always are going after the challenging ones, I suppose.” His wound is gone, but that doesn’t make any sense. He saw him be stabbed. He talked to him as he died. He wept when his demise was announced. Yet here he is, standing in front of him. How?

The friar now joins the others in surrounding him. It doesn’t make sense. He’s confused. He has to be. Perhaps this is all just a trick of the light or the heat of the day getting to him. “Well young man, it does seem like you are finally putting things together,” the friar says.

His love is the one who speaks next, “You know, my husband, what will happen if you go through with this. Our streets need not to be watered with blood more so than they already are. If you kill him, Tybalt, my cousin as well as yours, you will be killed and I left a widow. It will grieve me greatly if you are to kill one of my own kin, and your conscience will not let you rest until you have paid for it in your own blood, nor will the law.”

Mercutio examines him, his expression giving away what he was going to say before the words ever left his mouth. “ My friend, as always you are preoccupied and hastened by the thought of love. But this man- this murderer- cannot be left to his own devices. This monster of a man who scorns any thought of love will surely strike again. Think of poor Benvolio, and imagine what may happen to him the next time Tybalt comes within striking distance of one of your friends. Think of your servant, Balthasar, and imagine what may happen when a man such as he is left unchecked. You would have to send him away just to keep him safe, and perhaps that would not even protect him from Tybalt’s wrath. Think of your wife and what may happen to her when this monster realizes that she is now a Montague. He will have no mercy, and if he doesn’t hesitate to kill even his own family, what makes you think he will stop when it comes to a servant of the lord? No, my friend, this man will not rest until everything and everyone you love has been erased from this existence.”

And Romeo could see it happening. Him being left here, all alone, and where would he be? What would he do? At that point, the only course of action he could take was left clear. The only one he could take now was clear, as well. But still, Friar Laurence looks him over disapprovingly. “You perhaps have more heart than sense, but in this moment you abandon both. Listen to your wife, and if not to her, then to your forever bleeding heart. Mere hours ago you stood before her and made a vow. A vow that cannot be upheld unless you are a free man. And if you go through with this, I can guarantee you that you will not be one. Not in the eyes of the law, not in the eyes of the lord, and certainly not in the eyes of your own conscience. You stood before the man and wanted him to know that he was loved, that he was forgiven, and that you were no longer the villain of his story. You need to find that love in your heart once more and see it in yourself to walk away from this conflict.”

But Romeo knew how that turned out last time. He wasn’t willing to see it happen again. So he turned to his best friend, and Mercutio looked back at him. “This conflict is going to be the death of us all,” his friend observes. He says it like he believes it. He says it both as a criticism and an inevitability. And still it is he who pulls Romeo towards the man now soaked in his friend’s blood. He allows Mercutio to place his sword in his hand, that same blood slicking the grip. His own blood boils under his skin as he speaks with the murderer. He feels the friar’s and Juliet’s presences fade away and he hesitates, wondering if they were right. Then he catches a glance of his friend bleeding on the ground, his body already gone cold and he runs the man through.

He realizes somewhere in the back of his mind that Benvolio is speaking to him, telling him to run. Benvolio, who had delivered the news of their friend’s death, who had carried the man inside and who had likely witnessed the tragedy in person. Benvolio who had returned to watch his other friend stain his hands red with the blood of the offender. Romeo looks towards Mercutio, but he’s no longer there. “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” The words tumble out of his mouth before he even thinks to stop them.

“Why dost thou stay?” Benvolio demands and, seizing him by his shoulders, begins to shove him onto another street. Romeo dazedly comes back to himself. Fear grips him and he starts to run, the world blurring around him. From behind him he hears Tybalt begin to laugh. This time, he does not turn around.


End file.
